ARISTOTLE ON THE CONSTITUTION OF ATHENS TRANSLATED AND ANNOTATED BY : E. POSTE, MA. FELLOW OF ORIEL COLLEGE, OXFORD; EDITOR OF ELEMENTS OF ROMAN LAW BY GAIUS AND OTHER WORKS, SECOND EDITION T0 WHICH ARE ADDED SOME NEW READINGS IN PARALISE: LOST : London MACMILLAN AND CO, AND NEW YORK 1892 AN Rights ReservedRicuarp CLav axp Sons, Lratten, LONDON AND BUNGAY, First Edition, 1891; Second, 1992 HISTORY ITABLE OF CONTENTS EPOCHS OF EVOLUTION I PAGE, Ch. 1—3.—LIMITED MONARCHY or OLIGARCHY from Theseus to Drakon—s.c. 752, Decennial Archons—x.c. 682, Annual Archons—B.c. 632, Kulon seizes the Acropolis, his followers surrender and are massacred by Megakles the Alkmaionid . 1-5 Il Ch. 4.—TIMOCRACY—n.c. 621, Drakonian Constitution § 6—8 Ill Ch, 5—12,—TIMOCRACY—s.c. 594, Solonian Constitu- tion—Cancellation of Debts—Abolition of slavery for insolvency—Appeal from sentence of Magis- trates—Classification of citizens by amount of property—Supremacy of Areopagus—Election followed by sortition the mode of appointing Magistrates—Senate of 400—System of weights, measures, and values... 2... 1 ee _ 8-21xii TABLE OF CONTENTS Iv PAGE Ch, 18—19.—AUTOCRACY ...........04 21—33 Ch. 13.—Three factions, the Plain, the Shore, the Mongine 2: ss 21 Ch. 14—16.—2.c. 565, Usurpation of Peisistratos. . 22—28 Ch. 17.—B.c. 527, Death of Peisistratos. . . . . . 28 Ch. 18.—Harmodios and Aristogeiton. . . . . . . 29 Ch. 19.—B.c, 510, Expulsion of Hippias. . . . . . 31 v Ch, 20—22.—DEMOCRACY—z.c. 508, Kleisthenic Con- stitution—Ten Tribes, each composed of three Trittues—Ten Demes in each Tribe—Two, three, or four Demes in each Trittus—Senate of 500— nc, 490, Marathon... 2... 2.14. + . 38-40 Ch. 22.—Ostracism—s.c. 484, Discovery of silver mines at Laurium—Construction of a fleet . . . 37 VI Ch, 28—24,—ARISTOCRACY—a.c. 480, Salamis. . . 40—43 Ch. 23.—Areopagus recovers supremacy... . 40 Ch. 24 —Aristeides persuades the commons to depend for subsistence on the public revenues and to reduce their independent allies to the position of tributaries 2. 2... Se 42 VIL Ch, 25—28,—DEMOCRACY ...........-- 44—51 Ch. 25—26.—n.c. 462, Ephialtes and Themistokles overthrow the Areopagus........... 44—47TABLE OF CONTENTS xiii PAUE Ch. 27 —Perikles completes the extinction of the Areopagus—p.c. 432, Peloponnesian War—Pay- ment of 6,000 jurors. 2... ee 47 Ch. 28.—Succession of Demagogues—Apology for Mheramones 6 cr 49 Vu Ch. 29—33.-OLIGARCHY—a.c. 411, Sicilian disaster. 51—60 Ch. 29—32.—Council of 400... 2... 2 wwe 51—59 Ch. 88.—Ruling body of 5,000. ......... 60 Ix Ch. 34,~DEMOCRACY—a.c. 410, Victory at Kuzikos— Return of fleet to Athens—s.c. 406, Sea-fight at Arginoussai— Condemnation of victorious com- meanders 2... et ee 60—63 x Ch. 35—87.—OLIGARCHY—s.c. 405, Defeat at Aigos- potamoi— Athens taken by Lusandros — Thirty tyrants ee 63—67 XI Ch. 88—41—DEMOCRACY ............ 67—78 Ch. 38—40.—z.c. 403, Thrasuboulos seizes Phule— Pausanias, the Spartan King, restores democracy— Assassination of oligarchs... . 2.0... 67—74 Ch, 41.—Recapitulation. . 2.2... 2 eee 74xiv TABLE OF CONTENTS FINAL CONSTITUTION PAGE Ch. 42.—Enrolment on civic list and military training of youth»... . ee, eee wee 7881 LEGISLATURE. Ch. 43—45.—Legislative functions of Senate—Sessions of Eeleia ee 81—87 ADMINISTRATION AND JURISDICTION Ch. 46—49.—Administrative functions of Senate—Finan- cial, Naval, Military, Architectural, Eleemosy- Ds 87—94 Ch. 50—54.—Minor Magistrates—Arbitrators. . . . . 94—104 Ch. 55—59.—Nine Archons, their functions, spectacular and judicial. ©. 0. ee ee ee 104—121 Ch. 60.—Sacred olives. 2... 1. ee eee 121—122 Ch, 61.—Military officers... 2... 2. ee, 122—124 Ch, 62.—Salaries 2 5... ee ee 124—125 JUDICATURE. Ch. 68,—Helinla 2 2 1 ee ee ee 125—127 APPENDIX .... 2... eee eee 129ARISTOTLE ON THE CONSTITUTION OF ATHENSca, Google <ARISTOTLE’S CONSTITUTION OF ATHENS 1. [| THE impeachment of the Alkmaionidai by Muron for the treacherous massacre of Kulon’s ac- complices at the altars where they sought protection, was heard by a tribunal of three hundred judges,*] who took an oath over victims to deliver righteous judgment, and had aristocratic qualifications? The 2 Square brackets indicate that the words they inclose are supplied by the translator. In this instance the source of the supplemrentary words is Plutarch’s life of Solon. 2 A bad system of judicature seems to have been an original vice of the Athenian constitution. 3 ’Apiorivdny is not employed by Aristotle, as a newspaper critic thinks, to express qualification by birth. In Pol. 2, 11, 9 and 6, 7, 3 it impliedly denotes qualification by merit, i.e. by character, or public esteem, or distinction acquired in the discharge of high office. Qualification by birth is oligarchi- cal, Pol. 6, 4, 3. It is true that the constitution at the period in question was oligarchical ; but, if we trust the term em- ployed, these particular judges were selected, at a period of rapid social evolution, without exclusive regard to caste. B2 ARISTOTLE’S CONSTITUTION OF ATHENS charge of sacrilege was found true ; the bones of the guilty dead were disentombed and cast beyond the borders of Attica; the living clan were condemned to perpetual exile, and the city was subsequently ; purified from the pollution by Epimenides the : Cretan. 2. After this there were feuds between the nobles and the commons for many years. The constitution was thoroughly oligarchical, the poor with their wives and children were in_ servitude to the rich of a sixth, 4 for such was the portion of the produce of the land belonging to the rich which was paid as rent by the cultivators. “-A few proprietors owned all the soil, * and the cultivators with their wives and children were liable to be sold as slaves on failure to pay their rent. Debtors, too, as a —— of their to forfeit “their freedom on failure to_satisfy the usurers. Solon was the first ‘st_ champion and pro- 1 Such is the explanation of Plutarch. Boeckh thinks that five-sixths of the produce was paid as rent. ? Butsee note to ch. 12 and the Appendix, page 150, where it is explained that the lessor was often merely a usurer to whom the land had been nominally sold with a condition of retrans- fer on repayment of the price. The lessee or mortgagor was the true proprietor, and the nominal rent wac really the in- terest on a loan. ™< pe os ARISTOTLE’S CONSTITUTION OF ATHENS 3 tector of the commonalty. The chief grievance and source of their bitterness against the constitution wag their exclusion from ownership of the soil, but this was not their only motive of discontent, for they enjoyed scarcely any political rights. was as follows: There were _archons or supreme magistrates, elected in accordance partly with arista- cratic, partly with oligarchical qualifications, originally for life, afterwards for ten_years. The most exalted and ancient of these were the king, the polemarch, and the archon, specifically so named.? Of highest antiquity was the king, and the next in date was the polemarch, created to supply the generalship in which some of the kings were wanting, which caused Ton to be invited from abroad in some epoch of danger. The archon was a, later institution. The date of the first archon is placed by most authors in the reign of Medon, by others in that of Akastos ; and by way of proof, the latter quote the oath which the archons take to govern as was done in the days of Akastos, words which show that he was king when certain political functions passed from the 1 Or, reading with Kaibel and Wilamowitz: 1d 8ovdedeu, their liability to servitude. 2 The archon eponumos, or archon who gave his name to the year. - B24 ARISTOTLE’S CONSTITUTION OF ATHENS royal house of the Kodridai to the hands of the archon. Either hypothesis assigns the origin of the archonship to nearly the same epoch.! Evidence that the archon was of later origin than the two other offices may be seen in the fact that the archon, unlike the king and polemarch, takes no part in the oldest religious ceremonies,? which also shows that. the higher rank of the archon belongs to a recent era and is due to a modern enlargement of his attri- butions. 3 The institution of the Thesmothetai belongs to a much later time, when archon, king, and polemarch only held office for a year. Their function was to commit the ordinances ® to writing, and keep records of them to ensure their enforcement against trans- ‘gressors. The office of the Thesmothetai, accordingly, was never more than-annual.. So much for the comparative antiquity of these magistracies. The nine archons were not all originally assembled in a single residence. The king occupied what is now called the Boukolion, near the Prutaneion, and 1 Reading puxpdv ylyverat 73 &uadAdooor 70d xpévov, or some- thing equivalent, 2 See chapters 56, 57, 58. 3 As there were no written laws before Drakon, the written Thesmia of the text must have been decisions of judges or magistrates. aan| | | | | | | ARISTOTLE’S CONSTITUTION OF ATHENS 5 a surviving trace of his habitation may be noticed in the fact that at the present day this is the spot where the king-archon’s wife mects and weds Dionusos.1 The archon occupied the Prutaneion, the polemarch the Epilukeion which was formerly called the Polemarcheion, but when rebuilt and decorated by the Polemarch Epilukos changed its name to Epilukeion. The Thesmothetai occupied the Thesmotheteion, and this edifice in Solon’s time was made the joint residence of all the archons. The archons were final judges in the causes that came before a themmmnotsmasinows amerely: au, rin- tendents of the preliminary instruction. So much for the magistracies, The Council of the Areopagites hhad_the duty of Watching over the observance_of the laws; they administered all the most important political busi- ness, punishing and fining without appeal all who violated the law. The qualifications for the archon- ship were partly aristocratic, partly oligarchical ; and the the Areopagus? us? consisted of those who had_held the Office of archon. ‘Accordingly the Areopagites are the only officials in the present day that hold office for life. 1 At the Anthesteria or Dionusian festival in February. 2 Supposed to have been about ninety in number, i.e. ten yeare of ex-archons,6 ARISTOTLE’S CONSTITUTION OF ATHENS 4, Such in outline was the first constitution after the monarchy. Not long after_Kulon’s attempt to make himself tyrant, when Aristaichmos was the archon who gave his name to the year, Drakon came on the scene as legislator, and gave the follow- - ing form to the political constitution. Sovereign power was already? wielded by the class of persons capable of providing their own equipment for war. all encumbrances: the minor magistracies from the class who furnished their own arms: the generals class Who furnished their own arms: the genera’ and hipparchs or commanders of cavalry from those of the class registered _as owning not less than one hundred minas free of encumbrances, who were parents of legitimate children above the age of ten. It was the duty of the prutaneis® to require from the generals and hipparchs on the conclusion of their 1 This agrees with the statement of Aristotle, Pol. 2, 12, that Drakon made no change in the constitution. The revo- lution had already taken place. Drakon’s task was to adjust the laws to the changed centre of political power. ? Perhaps an error of the copyist for 100, 3 Reading rotrous 8° et dieyyvar (not SieyyvaoOat, for which Kenyon admits there is no room) rods mpurdvets, kal tobs arparnyous kal rods inmdpxous rods Evous, péxpis evOuvay, éyyunras rérrapas x.7.X, with Van Leeuwen and Paton. deeyyvav denotesARISTOTLE’'S CONSTITUTION OF ATHENS 7 command bail for their appearance till they had ren- dered their accounts, taking from each officer four sureties of the same class respectively as his owns_A senate of 40] was appointed by casting of lots out of the whole body of citizens. To cast lots for this and other offices appointed by lot a citizen had to be aver thirty years-of age, and was not capable of a second tenure of office before it had passed by rota- tion through all the citizens, after which he was again admitted to take a part in the sortition, A member of the 401 who failed to attend in his turn at asession of the senate or commons had to pay a fine of three drachmas if he was a Pentakosiome- dimnos, of two drachmas if a Hippeus, of one drachma if a Zeugites. The Council of the Areopagus was guardian of the law, and watched to see that it was obeyed by the magistrates. Any one who thought himself wronged could impeach a_ magistrate before the Areopagus, appealing to the law that he contended the act of the magistrate who exacts or takes bail ; &eyyvac8at, passive, is to give bail; middle, to become bail. In neither voice in this context could it havea meaning. Van Herwerden’s text requires the less probable version: until the fathers had rendered their accounts, these children were placed under the control of the prutaneis and the ex-generals and ex-hipparchs, and superintended by four curators taken from the class to which their fathers belonged. .8 ARISTOTLE'S CONSTITUTION OF ATHENS was violated. The personal freedom of a debtor, as already mentioned, was pledged as a security “a security of his debt, and possession of the soil was monopolized _by a few. 5. The narrowness’ of the constitution _and the oppression of the many by the few ended_in an outbreak of war between the nobles and_commons. Xs the disruption proved persistent, after they had been long divided into hostile camps, they concurred in a joint election of Solon to act_as mediator and © dictator and reconstructor plenipotentiary of the _ state, a work for which he had shown some fitness in in the elegiac poem which begins :-— “ My eyes are opened, and I see with anguish the plight of this old Ionian land,” in which poem he en- deavours to calm their resentments? champions each party in turn against the other, appeals to the reason of both, and finally urges them to join in uprooting the causes of dissension. Though his genius and fame placed him among - the first of his age, in fortune and estate® Solon - belonged to the middle class. For this besides other 1 Reading rouarns 88 ris owrdceas obeys ev rh wodirelg. 2 Reading xaranpaivet. 3 For mpdypara in the sense of possessions, compare Plutarch, Demetrios, ch. 31: oiduevos ra mpdypara Bta8dxors dpxeiv theloat.ARISTOTLE’S CONSTITUTION OF ATHENS 9 authorities we have his own testimony in the verses where he tells the wealthy not to be over-grasping :— “Still, ye great, the mighty pantings within your bosom. Feed? not so high the over-dieted and riotous steed, your over-weening spirit ; for neither my compeers nor the humblest ranks will tolerate the present*yoke.” : He continually throws the blame of the schism on the rich, fearing, as he says in the beginning of the poem, their greed and pride as the sources of the hatred that ranged class against class. 6. Armed with absolute power, Solon emanci- pated the commons for the present and_for_the future by forbidding usurers to take the body of a borrower _as_a_ guaranty of a loan: he enacted various new laws, and _ cancelled | all existing debts, whether owed to private persons or to the state, by what is called his disburdening ordinance because it released the commons from their load of obligation. This has been made by some the occasion of an imputation on hishonour. After resolving to publish the ordinance Solon divulged his plan to some of his friends, and, as his democratic admirers assert, was by them made the unwitting accomplice of a fraud- ulent scheme; as his detractors allege, became a, party to a fraud. They borrowed money with which 1 Reading & [yéor] rodAdv dyabav x.r.d. and rpépeade.10 ARISTOTLE’S CONSTITUTION OF ATHENS they bought up vast tracts of land, and shortly after- wards, on the abolition of all existing debts, became millionaires, and this, according to the story, was the origin of some of the territorial magnates, supposed ’ to be of immemorial antiquity.1 However, it is easier to believe the story of his panegyrists: for what is the likelihood that a man, so just and so superior to personal interests that, when he might by bribing the support of either faction have continued tyrant, he dared to offend them both, preferring to personal aggrandisement the glory of saving the state, what is the likelihood that such a man should soil his honour for a paltry pecuniary gain? That despotism was placed within his reach by the troubles which afflicted his country [and was deliberately declined,] his poems in many places declare and is admitted by all historians. The imputation, then, may be regarded as calumnious. 7. He_determined a form of constitution and enacted laws which superseded all the ordinances of Drakon, except such as related to murder. They. were inscribed on three-faced pyramids revolving on . pivots and placed in the colonnade of the court of - the king-archon. All the citizens swore to obey them, and when the archons took their oath on the . 1 Plutarch calls it a very painful incident, and mentions the names of Konon, Kleinias, and Hipponikos.